The goal is simple: In order to meet my 2007-2008 winter goals of staying active and maintaining fitness, I choose to try at least twelve activities I have never done before, each of them at least twice. I will record the results of those efforts here.
The background is a *little* more complicated. Twenty years ago I was coming to the end of my teenage years: obese, out of shape, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and drinking a lot. I had weighed more or less during my childhood, but for long stretches was one of the fat kids. The end of high school and beginning of college were the worst of it, and one day I realized was at a fork in the road. I could go one direction for the rest of my life, still fat, still smoking, still drinking, still consistently low-grade miserable. Or I could go another direction and face a short period of the high-grade misery of quitting smoking, quitting drinking, and losing weight followed by the potential of years of low- to high-grade contentment or happiness.
Naïve young person that I was, I decided to go for it. I decided to make change. I started by quitting smoking. I set a goal date to quit, I gathered resources, and I took every suggestion in the American Cancer Society pamphlet that I had. I decided I wasn’t getting rid of a habit, I was getting a new habit of not smoking. It helped me make it through the tough moment – I just had to practice not smoking one day at a time. It was hard hard hard, but so very worth it. I haven’t had a cigarette since February 14th, 1989 (with an added bonus that no matter what my romantic status, I always have something to celebrate on Valentine’s Day).
Then I quit drinking – a challenge in its own way, but the physical withdrawal was negligible compared to smoking.
Then I hit the biggie, the challenge I had always thought insurmountable: Exercise. Food. My weight. The problem with which I had struggled since I could remember. Literally. But I took a breath and a leap of faith and decided to tackle the issue head on.
That summer I joined the Y, and the first time I stepped on a treadmill I could do five minutes at three miles an hour and no incline before my calves hurt too much to continue. But I decided to start from where I was, not from where I wished I were, and I kept going back.
That summer I also decided not to eat all the time, and not to binge, and when I did eat, to make the portions a decent size and of relatively healthy foods. My definitions of all those things have changed over time, and there have been many challenging times with less success that I would have liked. But I have pretty consistently headed myself toward them for the last twenty years with an overall trajectory of success. It took and takes lots and lots of support, though – friends, family, support groups, books, TV, radio. I could never have done it alone. I still check in with people, have folks I talk to, and keep track of information.
The result was that I lost forty pounds that summer. Over the last twenty years about another twenty pounds have come off. I am seventy-five pounds lighter than my top weight of 200 pounds, and 100% healthier overall. Mostly what I’ve gotten is the dual gifts of fitness, and mental space that I used to use to worry about my weight. I now use that mental and emotional space to have fun, to care about the world, to care about people, and to think about stuff that’s way, way more interesting than my weight (including nutrition, and health, and the wellness of my community).
But I still have the urge to hibernate in the winter. I run a lot during the summer, but a few years ago relieved myself of the myth and burden of thinking I should run outside in the winter. Even if I should’ve, I didn’t. So almost two years ago I started working out with a personal trainer (Sally Carey, a gem) to help keep me active in the winter, and to meet other goals (like doing three pull-ups – which I did last year! And running a ten mile race in 100 or fewer minutes – which I did in November!).
But fitness requires more than strength training – it includes cardio and (regrettably, given my feelings about stretching in general and yoga in particular) flexibility. Hence this challenge I’ve given myself. Trying twelve new things will keep me active this winter, and I might just find stuff I will enjoy for winters to come. Wish me luck – the embarrassment factor of constantly trying new stuff will be high.
